Arthur and the Invisibles (2006)

Ten-year-old Arthur, in a bid to save his grandfather's house from being demolished, goes looking for some much-fabled hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, tiny people living in harmony with nature.

Director:

Luc Besson

Writers:

Céline Garcia, Luc Besson

Stars:

Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Madonna

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Freddie Highmore	...	Arthur
Mia Farrow	...	Granny
Ron Crawford	...	Archibald (voice)
Penny Balfour	...	Arthur's Mother
Doug Rand	...	Arthur's Father
Adam LeFevre	...	Davido
Jean Bejote Njamba	...	Massai Chief
Saul Jephcott	...	Police Officer #1
Lee Delong	...	Saleslady (as Lee de Long)
Christian Erickson	...	Antique Dealer
Eric Balliet	...	Mover #1
Oxmo Puccino	...	Mover #2
Robert William Bradford	...	Baliff
Jerry Di Giacomo	...	Repairman (voice)
Bienvenue Kindoki	...	Matassalai #1

Storyline

Arthur is a spirited ten-year old whose parents are away looking for work, whose eccentric grandfather has been missing for several years, and who lives with his grandmother in a country house that, in two days, will be repossessed, torn down, and turned into a block of flats unless Arthur's grandfather returns to sign some papers and pay off the family debt. Arthur discovers that the key to success lies in his own descent into the land of the Minimoys, creatures no larger than a tooth, whom his grandfather helped relocate to their garden. Somewhere among them is hidden a pile of rubies, too. Can Arthur be of stout heart and save the day? Romance beckons as well, and a villain lurks.

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Plot Keywords:

treasure | princess | underground world | debt | garden | 

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Taglines:

A huge adventure for the whole family.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for fantasy action and brief suggestive material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

France

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Arthur and the Invisibles

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

$86,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$15,132,763

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$108,605,609

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp, Avalanche Productions, Metro Voices

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Humans turned into Minimoys have five fingers, real Minimoys have four (as all other speaking species seen), and the King's mount, only three.

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Goofs

The house is specified in the movie as located in Conneticut USA, is actually a real house somewhere in the British Isles (England) because the electricity power points are United Kingdom 240 volt earthed type with switches, visible on the wall just to the right of the piano when Arthur blows out the candles on his birthday cake and visible on the wall to the left of the broken door on the floor in Granny's bedroom.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [a photo album unlatches and opens to a picture of a bearded man] This is Archibald Suchot, a treasure hunter, explorer, and engineer. He spent 10 years in Africa building every type of useful thing. Oh, by the way, it's in the heart of Africa that our story begins.
Narrator: [cut to a country road] Well, this really isn't Africa, it's Connecticut, and this is the house Archibald lived in before he mysteriously disappeared. But that's a story that Archibald's grandson would be more qualified ...

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning of the end credits, the main actors, actresses, and director come out on screen to take their final bows. If they did a voice in the film, they are presented as the character they voiced in the film. If their role was strictly live action, they are presented as a Minimoy version of their character.

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Alternate Versions

Weinstein's 94 minute USA/UK version is renamed "Arthur and the Invisibles" and is heavily cut and rearranged from the original 103 minute French/English language version named "Arthur et les Minimoys":

• The romance, kiss and marriage between Arthur and Selenia is cut.
• All sexual innuendo is cut.
• Davido's attempt to steal the rubies is cut.
• Some live shots are cut, some other added.
• Has more verbose speech.
• Narrator voice added (in addition to Archibald).

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Connections

Referenced in Taxi 4 (2007)

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Soundtracks

Let's Dance
Written by David Bowie
Performed by David Bowie
© Jones Music, Administrated by Editions Fairwood
Courtesy of RZO Music

User Reviews

Wildly uneven movie where the animated bits almost make up for not so good live action ones

Based on the book by Luc Besson and rumored to be his final directing project this is the story of Arthur who is spurred on by the tales of his missing grandfather to find the land of the Minimoys where a great treasure is hidden. The treasure is needed because a developer wants the land for apartment buildings. Arthur is shrunk and begins a journey to Necropolis where he hopes to find his grandfather and the treasure.

Set seemingly in "America" with lines of dialog that are filled with British English this is a mixed bag of a movie. Most of the live action stuff isn't very good. Its poorly written and not very interesting on the whole, though the stories of the grandfathers inventions and adventures are pretty neat.(I'm sure kids will have a better time with the film since they won't have seen it before). The animated sequences, which make up the bulk of the film, do have some wonderful bits. Some of the dialog is knowingly funny in the right sort of way (I loved the forlorn Arthur bemoaning that the princess was too old for him, he being 10 and she being 1000). Bits such as Snoop Dog at a club are often scatter-shot funny,though I wonder if the Snoop sequence will date badly. The animation is often quite good with some bits being better looking than others(though I suspect that what looks to be the marrying of animated bits to live action plates is what got the film yanked from Oscar contention-not that it ever really had a chance.). I liked the character designs which are very Brian Froudish. I also liked the voice cast which included Robert DeNiro as the old king and David Bowie as a delicious villain.

Yea I know how is it? Its okay, As I said better in pieces. There is a really good story in there somewhere, its just not all on the screen. I think somewhere it got dumbed down or changed around. I blame Besson who must have been counting on the visuals to carry the film. You're not going to love it. I doubt anyone other than a small kid will love it- and odds are when they grow up they won't know why they loved it. Adults (or those passing as adults) will find it an okay time killer- though I do recommend waiting for video where the fast forward will make it easier to zip through the tough spots.

If you're curious worth seeing- though wait for video